London, June 2 (IANS) A depleted India lost by nine wickets to a disciplined New Zealand in the opening warm-up tie of the ICC Twenty20 tournament at Lord’s cricket ground here Monday. India, without the services of Virender Sehwag and Yuvraj Singh, who was down with food poisoning, managed to score only 161 for six despite a good start given by Rohit Sharma.

The defending champions were powered by a 20-ball 36 by Sharma - opening in place of Sehwag - and a 24-ball 45 by Suresh Raina, and needed to score at a manageable rate of 8.5 runs an over at the end of the 16th over.

But the Kiwi bowlers led by skipper Daniel Vettori kept a tight least, grabbing wickets at regular intervals and conceding only 24 runs in the last four overs as the Indian innings folded up for 161 for six.

Earlier, put into bat by Indian skipper M.S. Dhoni, New Zealand scored a fighting 170 for seven wickets.

New Zealand, who have not lost a Twenty20 match against India, had enough in their armoury Monday to keep that record intact.

Some lusty hitting by Nathan McCullum (18 runs, 14 balls, three fours) and James Franklin (27, 10 balls, 3×4, 2×6) in the last two overs produced 31 runs after paceman Ishant Sharma rocked their innings with a four-wicket burst.